Trial of Henry Okah for Abuja bombings begins in South Africa; African Union troops capture the last stronghold of al-Shabaab; Egypt pledges to relax crackdown in Sinai Peninsula; European and North African leaders discuss terrorism and regional issues; P
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    • The trial of a former leader of the Nigerian oil militants, Henry Okah, who was accused for bombings at Nigeria's 50th independence celebrations in 2010 was opened in South Africa. However, Okah denied the thirteen charges related to acts of terrorism leveled against him. He was arrested in Johannesburg after two car bombs in the Nigerian capital Abuja killed 12 people in October 2010. The Mend militant group, of which he was a senior leader, claimed responsibility for the attacks. He has been living in South Africa since 2003 and is now a South African citizen.1

    In another development, the African Union troops captured the Somali port city of Kismayo, the last stronghold of the al-Shabaab Islamist group in Somalia. With their four-day offensive against the militant group in Kismayo, the African Union troops were able to separate al-Shabaab from the population centers where it raised funds by taxing commerce. This marks a turn in the U.S.-supported offensive against al-Shabaab, which controlled much of Somalia and sought to extend its reach with attacks around the region. 2 On the other hand, the Somali Islamist militants gave notice of their intention to fight back, by detonating a bomb in the port city. It was reported that the blast points to the al Qaeda-linked rebels' ability to hit back with covert strikes and continues a pattern of attacks in other urban strongholds from where they have retreated under military pressure. 3

    According to reports, during his visit to the northern Sinai city of el-Arish, Egypt’s president Mohammed Morsi pledged to relax the crackdown in the Sinai Peninsula and not pursue fugitives that has seen a surge in militancy and cross-border attacks on Israel. He also met tribal leaders, top ultraconservative Salafi clerics and Christian families who were lately forced to leave their homes in the area after getting death threats from Islamic militants. Further, he assured the tribal elders that “sons of Sinai” would not be pursued and that that the judiciary would review many of the cases from the region. 4

    Reports noted that ten European and North African leaders met in Malta for the first such summit of Mediterranean neighbours in a decade, with the agenda focused on fighting terrorism and lawlessness, and strengthening political and economic cooperation in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. French President Francois Hollande was likely to seek support for his call to the U.N. Security Council to endorse a West African-led military intervention in northern Mali, where al-Qaeda-linked Islamists are in control. The tense situation in the Middle East, which directly affects the Mediterranean region, as well as the continued migration from North Africa into southern Europe, were also on the agenda. 5

    According to reports, attacks on Somalis have been persistent throughout South Africa, particularly with Somali traders, and frequent attacks on Somalis living in South Africa created lot of uncertainty. It mentioned that three Somali traders from Cape Town were killed within 72 hours of each other in September 2012 and ten Somali business owners were killed and their stores robbed by South African gangs in June 2012. It added that Somalis in South Africa expressed alarm of the repeated killings and robberies of Somalis with many appeals to police proving unsuccessful in stopping the targeted killings. 6

    The Libyan Parliament voted to dismiss its Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour, who was chosen less than four weeks ago, creating a power vacuum and deepening a leadership crisis. This development has happened at a moment when the country’s transitional authorities are under intense pressure to catch the killers of the American ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and to stop the prevailing lawlessness that led to his death. With the dismissal, Libya also effectively lacks ministers of defence and interior, the officials most responsible for apprehending the attackers and reining in the local militias that control the streets. Mohammed Ali Abdallah, a member of the National Front Party from Misurata opined that militias would try to take advantage of this power vacuum to exert their own authority. 7

    In other developments, according to reports, Lieutenant Eli Lazarus, an army spokesman, said that Nigerian soldiers killed about thirty suspected members of Boko Haram, including a close associate of the group's leader, during a gun battle in north eastern Yobe state. Lazarus mentioned that troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF) were "engaged in a gun battle with the suspected terrorists" during a search-and-cordon operation on Boko Haram's hideout in Kandahar and around cemetery areas of Damaturu, the state capital. Six rifles, ninety rounds of ammunition, several telephone sets were recovered during the raid. 8

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